David Robertson returns to Sydney in August with three exciting programs

BY Katherine Stevenson - Sydney Symphony Orchestra | 30-Jul-2014

Four Last Songs: Robertson and Brewer Perform Strauss: Wed 13, Fri 15, Sat 16 Aug 8pm. Hear it, Feel it – Music, Emotion and the Brain: Wed 20, Thu 21 6.30pm, Fri 22 Aug 11am. Symphonic Inspiration: Fri 29 8pm, Sat 30 Aug 2pm, Mon 1 Sep 7pm. Sydney Symphony Orchestra Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor David Robertson returns to Sydney this August with three exciting programs for the Orchestra and audiences. Beginning with Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs with famed soprano Christine Brewer, Robertson will then explore the effect of music on the brain and the way we listen through composers such as Mozart and Ligeti in ‘Hear it, Feel it’, before his final program featuring Brahms’s Third Symphony – a piece of music which holds a special meaning for the Robertson. #davidrobertson @sydsymph #sydneysymphony

Four last songs: Robertson and Brewer perform Strauss (13- 16 August)
Grammy Award-winning American soprano Christine Brewer will join David Robertson and the SSO for what is sure to be a memorable performance of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs.

"Inviting Christine Brewer here is one of the most fabulous things I was able to do in my first season with the SSO," Robertson says.

Brewer is known for her unique timbre – said to be at once warm and brilliant, combined with a vibrant personality and emotional honesty reminiscent of the great sopranos of the past. She was recently named by BBC Music Magazine as one of the top 20 sopranos of all time.

Also on the program is Brahms' Symphony No. 2 and the Australian Premiere of Frenesia
by German composer Detlev Glanert – who will be in Sydney for this premiere

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Hear it, Feel it: Music Emotion and the Brain (20 – 22 August)
In this concert David Robertson wants to give audiences a window into what he calls 'listening with the whole self'.
"I think it's amazing how each and every one of us has our own unique emotional reaction to music," Robertson says. "We can generalise but it's the specific nature of our own individual sense of what's going on and how it makes us feel which is really fascinating."

In this unique and stimulating concert Robertson will take the audience from art to brain science and back again, fine-tuning our senses with music drawn from the vast riches of the orchestral repertoire. There is a range of pieces programmed for the concert, some old, some new.

Joining Robertson and the Orchestra for the Ligeti Piano Concerto is UK pianist Nicolas Hodges who according to The Guardian –"always goes boldly go where few other pianists dare ... with an energy that sometimes defies belief.

Symphonic Inspiration: Robertson Conducts Brahms (29 August – 1 September)
Robertson has programmed the Brahms' Third Symphony for the final SSO program he will conduct in the 2015 season. The Symphony is said to give the impression of having been 'created in the flush of an inspired hour', and Robertson says it's a symphony he's loved for years.

"It was actually the first of the Brahms symphonies that I ever conducted, at the tender age of 19 – so it's been with me for a long long time now," Robertson explains.

Robertson has also programmed Janáček's Sinonietta, and Lalo's Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra – featuring violinist Vadim Repin. Repin is known for his fiery passion with impeccable technique, poetry and sensitivity – all which are sure to be displayed in his performances of Symphonie espagnole.

For more information about Sydney Symphony Orchestra Chief Conductor David Robertson and his performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra please visit: http://www.sydneysymphony.com/davidrobertson/

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